edu resource uneven distribution

We know that educational resources are never evenly distributed. Everyone wants to get into the better schools.

Singapore’s resource allocation is supposed to be more merit-based whereas other countries often have more wealth-based allocation. Singapore also features many international schools, but I’m putting them aside.

In either merit-based or wealth-based systems, you are always performance-ranked, as I said years ago. If you are a musician you may want to ignore the ranking and focus on your music. I happen to have a UChicago and NUS under my belt.

— various edu resources:
I feel the most important education resource is not school but the extended family. One of the greatest resources is a home-maker mom, to keep the kids under control.

A very economical and popular resource is private tuition. My son likes center-based rather than home-based.

— Exclub .. When you think of the wealth-based, you confront the exclub-wealth. Actually we are relatively OK in terms of exclub-wealth, but we would need to cut spending on other things such as overseas trips. Luckily, I have prepared myself for years to deal with and hopefully overcome the waves of cultural shocks related to top schools, stratification, stigma, branding.

 

top secondary schools may!!be suitable|accessible to boy

Note this is not a parenting principle.

1) boy doesn’t look like the academic type
2) boy lack the absorbency capacity, drive/motivation

In the abilities/effort framework, I see gaps on both fronts… More on the effort side. Effort does affect abilities, as seen in his math.
In middle schools I became ‘engaged’ at a much earlier age than my peers and developed my competitive Abilities.

3Y^5Y bachelor programs: any difference@@

Q: TsingHua engineering Bachelor’s degree took some of my peers 5 years. I felt proud for them as they the 5Y degree was a badge of honor. However, If you look at the difference made by the extra year, are these graduates stronger or just delayed by a year?
A: I would say delayed, not necessarily stronger. That extra year can get you a reputable Master’s degree from reputable universities such as my alma mater UChicago. My other alma mater NUS engineering also awards Bachelor’s + Master’s in 4.5 years. These universities have comparable academic recognition to TsingHua !

Q: NUS Comp science Bachelors can graduate in 3 years. If you look at the difference due to the one year shortage, are these graduates weaker or they saved time and money graduating faster?
A: I feel faster.

When a TshingHua graduate and a NUS comp science graduate both go to the same company for coding interview, I would say the extra years don’t matter as much as the coding drill.

I hope my kids feel the sense of urgency and don’t waste time on some paper qualification.

gr8idea: take-up-for-fun: wordy problems

My assumption — he has lost the basic skills. Pushing him hard will be ineffective.

温和地坚持

On the other hand, he probably needs more perseverance. He has a tendency to give up and puts in fake effort.

Note Take-up-for-fun involves (confrontational?) facetime and can create pain (frustration/regret/losing-cool) in me, despite the ‘for-fun’ slogan.

Biggest problem — insufficient intrinsic motivation

renzi=%%#1priority: was/is@@

From P1 to P3, among all the academic skills, the #1 skill I worked on most was renzi. Clearly more strategic than English, Science or …

Now in P6 I think my son’s renzi capabiilities is stronger than most of his classmates.

if +! the math bmark crisis of 2019

I wouldn’t say he is so lazy. Perhaps he is more motivated than many kids of another country.

I wouldn’t see his poor clarity of thinking and pattern recognition in math.

I wouldn’t feel so negative about his tech career

I wouldn’t see his basic arithmetic weakness created by years of neglect.

Am I more focused@ marks^concept@@ #math++

US^SG: math++heavy practice

US^SG: math++ heavy practice4 exam!!concept

Q: am I more focused on grades or concept?
A: At P2, I used to focus on concepts. Now I feel focusing on concepts probably means he won’t get the marks. To get the marks, he has to endure uncomfortable amount of practice. See my chat with Sakamoto teacher…

I guess that many math fun learning websites (U.S., Australia…) probably focus on pupils’ interests (intrinsic motivation), not exams. I think exams in SG require much heavier tedious practice. To score in exams, you need speed, pattern-recognition, and avoiding mistakes at every step. You need lots of practice. 又快又准。

JackZ: Given your son’s lack of interest in wordy problems, U.S. culture would probably emphasize encouragement rather than forced practice.

Heavy homework, tough practice is actually common across U.S. schools such as my UChicago master’s program, but probably not common before high school.

In Singapore, it is quite heavy starting at Grade 4.

At the higher leve, proficiency is a requirement at the U.S. exams, similar to Singapore exams at the same level.

bell-curve bmark: I can’t influence other pupils #GraceDong

I feel I need to focus more on motivation than benchmark. The fixation on academic ranking is frustrating because it’s ALWAYS relative to fellow students.

I have zero control over fellow students’ performance, abilities, effort….

Grace Dong seemed to suggest that poor grade is always due to limited effort. I feel that point of view ignores the relative ranking. If you double your effort but other people also double their effort, then you would still score low in the bell curve !

##critical questions@%%coaching effort #math

Q: in my recent wordy problem face times, is boy making an effort?
%%A: I would say yes.

Q: Is he learning a reusable method?
%%A: Am 51% confident

Q: Is he paying attention?
%%A: Am 60% confident

Q: am I more focused on his grades, or him grasping the concepts?  See separate blogpost